Magneto Rocks
03-22-2008, 09:30 AM
Recently, I've been re-reading "Villains United" and the lead-ins to Infinite Crisis, and it's reminded just how fantastic the potential really was. Let's face it, the villains in DC team up in one ultra-giant-super-team-of-villains-that-will-DEFINITELY-do-it-this-time every few years- Hell, it looks like Final Crisis will be the third time in the last three years, but I always felt there was something different about 2005's Society.
It genuinely felt like the one time everything was done *right*. The villains had an organic motive for banding together in the wake of Doctor Light's mindwipe. Moreover, it was line-wide build-up that had repurcussions everywhere; from Batman to Teen Titans to Superman, everyone was in it. It didn't fall prey to the old "Villains In-Fighting" either, instead it actually felt like a single unified society under a ruling council, and the characters in that council were very well selected and had great interaction. I remember eading what Gail Simone wrote in an interview- that for the first time ever, the villains were far more organized than the heroes, and as the JLA fell apart, the villains were banding together.
But the key thing, the really key thing for me, was that the Society felt like a threat. It felt like they might actually succeed. It wasn't just some giant attack to "conquer the world", it was actually a meticulously crafted plan to establish a new society, and it felt like they could damn well do it- this was especially clear in the "Villains United" special, as they smoothly made breakouts worldwide, and it became clear that this time, they might have the organization, the mechanism- they'd be the ones with the prisons, they were outwitting their foes at every turn.
Then Infinite Crisis itself came along and they got a few pages throughout the first 6 issues which devolved into a giant, stupid, lowest common denominator "everyone attack Metropolis!" battle in the last issue. Yeah.
I honestly think the Society is some of the most wasted potential in all of DC over the last few years. It created MASSIVE oppurtunity for storytelling and exploration, it was a villain organization that felt novel, that felt like a threat instead of a cliché (For which Gail Simone is probably to be thanked) and yet it totally fell apart because they were only a minor plot thread lost in the general hubbub of Infinite Crisis. Am I the only one who feels like this? Or do you think the Society was taken as far as it could reasonably have gone? I'd be itnerested to hear the thoughts of others on this matter.
It genuinely felt like the one time everything was done *right*. The villains had an organic motive for banding together in the wake of Doctor Light's mindwipe. Moreover, it was line-wide build-up that had repurcussions everywhere; from Batman to Teen Titans to Superman, everyone was in it. It didn't fall prey to the old "Villains In-Fighting" either, instead it actually felt like a single unified society under a ruling council, and the characters in that council were very well selected and had great interaction. I remember eading what Gail Simone wrote in an interview- that for the first time ever, the villains were far more organized than the heroes, and as the JLA fell apart, the villains were banding together.
But the key thing, the really key thing for me, was that the Society felt like a threat. It felt like they might actually succeed. It wasn't just some giant attack to "conquer the world", it was actually a meticulously crafted plan to establish a new society, and it felt like they could damn well do it- this was especially clear in the "Villains United" special, as they smoothly made breakouts worldwide, and it became clear that this time, they might have the organization, the mechanism- they'd be the ones with the prisons, they were outwitting their foes at every turn.
Then Infinite Crisis itself came along and they got a few pages throughout the first 6 issues which devolved into a giant, stupid, lowest common denominator "everyone attack Metropolis!" battle in the last issue. Yeah.
I honestly think the Society is some of the most wasted potential in all of DC over the last few years. It created MASSIVE oppurtunity for storytelling and exploration, it was a villain organization that felt novel, that felt like a threat instead of a cliché (For which Gail Simone is probably to be thanked) and yet it totally fell apart because they were only a minor plot thread lost in the general hubbub of Infinite Crisis. Am I the only one who feels like this? Or do you think the Society was taken as far as it could reasonably have gone? I'd be itnerested to hear the thoughts of others on this matter.